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Campe
In Greek mythology, Campe or Kampe (Greek: Κάμπη "crooked"; confer καμπή "a twist, a bend") is the name of a fearsome chthonic drakaina (she-dragon). Etymology The name given in Greek texts is Κάμπη, with an accent on the first syllable. As a common noun κάμπη is the Greek word for caterpillar or silkworm. It is probably related to the homophone καμπή (with the accent on the second syllable) whose first meaning is the winding of a river, and came to mean, more generally, any kind of bend, or curve. Myths & Legends Called the Nymph of Tartarus (Ταρταρία νύμφη), Campe was given the task of guarding the Hekatonkheires and the Cyclopes in Tartarus, by Cronus, leader of the Titans.Butler, George F., "Spenser, Milton, and the Renaissance Campe: Monsters and Myths in The Faerie Queene and Paradise Lost, in Milton Studies 40, Albert C. Labriola (Editor), University of Pittsburgh Press; 1st edition (December 13, 2001). ISBN 978-0-8229-4167-5. pp. 19–37. When it was prophesied to Zeus that he would be victorious in the Titanomachy with the help of Campe's prisoners, Zeus killed Campe in order to have the Cylopes and Hekatoncheires assist him in the war against the Titans.[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliotheca_(Pseudo-Apollodorus) Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheke 1.2.1.] Appearance Neither of the poets/historians Apollodorus nor Diodorus provide any description of Campe, however the Greek poet Nonnus provides a elaborately detailed one. Campe is generally depicted as having the head and upper body of a beautiful woman, the lower body of a dragon, a massive scorpion's tail full of venom, snakes around her ankles, and 50 grisly heads of various creatures (wolves, snakes, bears, lions...) bubbling around her waist.Nonnus, Dionysiaca; translated by Rouse, W H D, II Books XVI–XXXV. Loeb Classical Library No. 345, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. Internet Archive. This description by Nonnus is similar to Hesiod's description of the monster Typhon (Theogony 820 ff.).Ogden, Daniel, Drakōn: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds, Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0-19-955732-5. Joseph Eddy Fontenrose says that for Nonnus, Campe "was a female counterpart of his Typhon ... That is, she was Echidna under a different name."Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). Online version at the Perseus Digital Library In his lexicon, Hesychius of Alexandria (K.614) noted that the poet Epicharmos had called Campe a kētos, or sea-monster.Max Mayer Die Giganten und Titanen 1887:232–34. Campe's fingernails were also said to be "curved like a crooktalon sickle",http://www.theoi.com/Ther/DrakainaKampe.html and she possessed black wings on her back. More rare depictions describe her as holding scimitars, having snake hair, holding a scythe etc. Origins We first hear of the imprisonment of the Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers, and their subsequent release by Zeus, in Hesiod's Theogony.Diodorus Siculus, Diodorus Siculus: The Library of History. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Online version by Bill Thayer However Hesiod makes no mention of Campe, or any guard for the prisoners. These events were probably also told in the lost epic poem the Titanomachy, upon which the mythographer Apollodorus perhaps based his account of the war. According to Apollodorus: Diodorus Siculus says that the god Dionysus, while camped beside the Lybian city of Zabirna, encountered and killed "an earth-born monster called Campê" that was terrorizing the city, killing many of its residents.Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. References Category:Greek mythology Category:Monsters in Greek mythology Category:Hybrid Category:Dragons